Better Watch Out, Boys!
by Adam's Gurl
Summary: Isabella Fernández has a face as sweet and innocent as her voice, but what is she really after?
1. Biggest Attraction in Town!

**AN** This is the first chapter of a two-three chapter story that I started a while ago. Enjoy! :-)

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"Joseph!" Ben Cartwright bellowed for his youngest son, for the sixth time that morning.

All of a sudden, a loud crash was heard from upstairs.

"Wonder what that was," Adam said, looking at the stairs.

"Yeah. Hey, Adam, pass some more flapjacks, will you?" Hoss asked.

Adam passed them and continued staring at the stairs. "Do you think I should go get him?"

"Yes, I think that might be a good idea," Ben said, annoyed with his youngest son. "I wonder what he was up to last night."

"I believe we all have a pretty good idea what he was up to," Adam smirked a little as he got up.

Then all eyes turned to the stairs again, as a very tired looking Joe appeared. He slowly started down the stairs, his brothers and father watching his every move. He made it down to the landing, before tripping, and tumbling down the rest of the stairs, landing at the bottom on his stomach.

"Joe." Ben rushed to his side, while Adam and Hoss took their time getting there, the smirks evident on their faces.

"Why, good morning, little brother." Adam greeted him. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well, what do you think, elder brother?" Joe said sarcastically, slowly getting up with Ben's help.

"I think you slept very well, and are ready to put in a full day's work. Isn't that right, Hoss." Adam turned to Hoss for confirmation.

"Yes, I think you're right, Adam. He sure is chompin' at the bits to get to work." Hoss grinned, joining in on the teasing.

Joe groaned, and brushed past his brothers roughly, collapsing on the settee.

"I'm afraid that what your brothers said wasn't entirely a joke, son," Ben said. "You have a full day of work ahead of you, so come eat some breakfast."

Joe jumped up, wincing at the pain in his head. "But, I can't, Pa. I have a – um, appointment in town. That's it, an appointment." Joe gave his best persuasive grin.

"Oh, you have an appointment." Ben put his hands on his hips, nodding his head. "Mind my asking with whom this appointment is?"

"Uh, just somebody."

"No, Little Joe. That won't pass. Somebody new in town?" Adam asked, immediately interested when Joe hesitated to answer.

"Well, sure. There's a new lawyer, a young couple..." Joe started.

"Joe. Who is she?" Adam demanded.

"Just a singer," Joe said, trying to downplay the lady's talent and beauty.

"You mean she's a new saloon girl?" Adam said, a little disappointed; he didn't much like the girls in the saloon.

"Oh, no!" Joe hastened to clear up. "She does work in the saloon, but singing is all she does. Señorita Isabella Fernández is so good, they hired her to sing in the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations."

"I see," Adam said, thoughtfully.

Joe groaned suddenly, realizing that in his haste to clear the lady's name, he'd played right into his brother's hands.

Then Adam shrugged and sat back down at the table. This wasn't the first time he'd seen his younger brother like this; Joe must have fallen in love with every girl within a twenty mile radius, at one time or another, so he figured the Señorita couldn't be _that_ special. Still,he would be sure to see for himself; she was Spanish, for crying out loud. How could he totally lose interest in her?

Little Joe sighed, feeling a little relieved when Adam seemed to lose interest. He still had the problem of arriving at his date with the Spanish singer. _'I'll figure it out.'_ he thought to himself. Now that it seemed Adam wasn't interested, he felt a lot more confident.

"Let's go eat, son," Ben said, slapping Joe's back, lightly, and making the hung-over kid jump.

With a groan, Joe got up, and sat down at the table, trying not to through-up what little he had in his stomach, as he watched Hoss gobbling up the greasy bacon.

After breakfast, Ben started giving out orders. "Hoss, you take a couple men and go up to the North Pasture. With all the rain that's been coming down, the river might be flooded. Just check-up on the cattle."

"Sure Pa." Hoss nodded and started for the door.

"Joe, there's a fence down in the South pasture. Take two men and a wagon with whatever you need, and go up fix that. And Adam, I want you to go into town with the buckboard and get the supplies on this list. There's quite a lot of things to pick up." Ben handed Adam a good-sized list of supplies.

"I'll go right away." Adam started buckling his gun belt around his waist.

"And, uh, Adam," Ben said.

"Yeah, Pa?"

"Don't stay too long; there's work for you here in the afternoon." Ben cautioned knowingly.

Adam grinned and nodded. He grabbed his hat, smirked at Joe who was shuffling towards the door with an angry, frustrated expression on his face and went out the door.

Adam had the buckboard hitched up in a matter of minutes, and he saddled, then tiedSport to the back "in case something happened".

The ride to Virginia City took a little longer with the buckboard, but they made pretty good time getting there.

Usually, the streets were so full you had to be very watchful where you were going, at this time of the year, but there were only a couple ladies walking on the sidewalks, and a handful men building an announcing stand for the Fourth of July celebrations.

He whoa-ed the horses in front of the general store and called for the storekeeper.

"Mornin' Adam." James Brown walked out of the store. "What can I do for you?"

"Mornin' James. Pa sent me to get some supplies." Adam said, stepping off the buckboard.

"You just give me the list, and I'll fill your order so you can go check out the biggest attraction in town." James winked knowingly.

"Uh, the biggest attraction?" Adam asked, even though he had an idea what the man was talking about.

"Isabella Fernández, of course." James grinned, motioning towards the saloon.

"Uh, thanks, James." Adam handed him the list, and, tying the horses to a hitching rail, he crossed the street to the Bucket of Blood.

Entering it, he was very surprised at how full the place was. A big part of the town was there, just to listen to the new singer.

Adam slowly made his way through the crowd, ignoring the yells of "another song", as he tried to get close enough to see the Señorita. He finally got close enough, and his breath left him with a whoosh, as he caught the beautiful singer's eye. Long wavy black hair bounced around her shoulders, a single red rose behind her ear. She wore a purple dress, that seemed to bring out her fawn-brown eyes.

They stared at each other for a minute, then Isabella gave him a small smile, and started a new song.

Adam pushed his way all the way to the front, listening to her beautiful voice. He had to admit, she was pretty good, and she sure didn't look half bad either!

When the performance was over Adam clapped heartily. Isabella threw some kisses to the audience before she slyly looked at Adam and tipped her head towards the door she then disappeared through.

Adam chuckled, and, passing it off to himself as simple curiosity, followed her.

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 **TBC**


	2. Little does he know

Joe pulled up Cooch in front of the hotel with a little rear and hopped off his back. He straightened his tie and smoothed his hair before stepping into the hotel.

Going straight through the lobby to the restaurant he dinged the bell on the empty desk once and then again. When no one showed up he kept going until the teller hurried to the desk from the lobby.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. People here have no patience – no appreciation for a man who works three jobs." The man grumbled.

Joe couldn't help but laugh as the annoyed teller asked how he could help him.

"Reservation for Joe Cartwright and company?" He said.

The man checked his book. "Ah, yes. Right this way, sir." He led Joe to a table in the corner.

Joe took a seat as the man left again, admiring the centrepiece of red roses. He must have sat there for fifteen minutes, sipping a glass of lemonade he'd ordered out of pure boredom until the beautiful Spanish singer arrived.

Joe got up immediately and took her hand. "You're even more beautiful than I remembered, Isabella." He smiled and kissed her hand before seating her at the table.

Isabella smiled graciously. "I do apologize for being so tardy. I was... kept."

If Joe had known who kept her it was likely that his elder brother might have ended up with a sore jaw!

"And I sincerely apologize for missing your performance. There was some urgent, unfinished business on the ranch." Joe said.

"That's quite alright," Isabella said.

They ordered and ate, exchanging various small-talk.

"Gracias for the luncheon, Joselito. I enjoyed it." Bella said when they had finished, getting up. "But I must be getting back to the hotel now."

"Well, maybe we can get together again soon?"

"Maybe." Bella smiled at him and tried again to leave.

"How about this evening?"

"Oh, um, I have an engagement this evening but I will see you tomorrow, sí?"

"Sí, I mean, yes," Joe said. "Let me escort you to your room."

Bella nodded graciously and Joe walked her to her room.

"Then I will see you tomorrow?" Bella asked when Joe didn't show any sign of leaving.

"Yes, I'll see you tomorrow, fair lady." Joe kissed her hand.

"You have your brother's charm. Now, goodbye."

And Joe was left outside her room, wondering what she meant.

* * *

 **AN** This chapter is extremely short, but it's all I have for y'all right now :)

 **TBC**


	3. Adam's in trouble!

Fast hoofbeats were heard outside the house, and Ben got up from his desk to look out the window. The sight that greeted him was surprising, as Joe wasn't usually one to push his horse that hard for the heck of it. When Joe jumped off before the horse stopped and ran into the house without tying up Cooch, Ben realized something must be wrong.

"Joe." He hurried to the front door, getting there at the same time that Joe burst in. He was fuming and ran right smack dab into Ben, bowling them both over.

"Joe. What's happened?" Ben asked, getting up and keeping a firm grip on Joe's arms when it looked like he wanted to leave.

"Oh, sorry Pa." Joe apologized briefly. Then, "Where is he Pa? Let me at him!" Joe struggled to get out of Ben's strong grip.

"Where is who? Who are you looking for?" Ben asked, getting more confused by the minute.

"Adam. Where is that dirty, double-crossing, back-stabber hiding?" Joe demanded, finally looking at Ben.

"Adam is out on an emergency right now; a heifer calved prematurely, and isn't excepting the little guy. But why-why do you want him?" Ben asked, extremely confused by his behaviour.

Joe growled. "He'll know." When Ben still didn't let go of him, he said, "Just a matter between the two of us, OK?"

"OK," Ben said, releasing Joe. His first instinct was to get the truth out of the boy and settle this problem himself, but he realized that his sons were growing up and were old enough to take care of their own problems. "OK, but be more careful where you're going, even when you're on the warpath."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure Pa."

"OK, good." Ben hesitantly let go of his son and returned to his paperwork.

After half an hour of Joe's pacing around the room, Ben finally couldn't stand it any longer. "Sit down, Joe, will yu?" He pleaded.

Joe sat down grudgingly and stayed quietly seated for a while.

Ben tried to concentrate on his work as the sound of fingers being drummed on the table got louder and more insistent.

"Will you cut that out, Joe?" He demanded, the stress starting to get to him.

Joe quit for a while, but then the noise started up again.

Ben tried to ignore it and focus on his paperwork, but the noise was driving him to an early grave. He finally got up and walked over to Joe.

"Little Joe, why-why don't you go outside, and chop some firewood?" He suggested. The boy needed an outlet and Ben figured he might as well do something worthwhile.

Joe hesitated; he really didn't want to chop any firewood just then, but he figured he might as well do something while he waited. Ben's raised eyebrow was pretty convincing too.

"Sure, Pa." Joe sighed and went outside.

For the next hours, the drumming was replaced by the steady chopping sound, which was still annoying but not as bad.

Ben's paperwork finally finished, he decided to go see how Joe was doing. He was just taking a break when Ben saw him.

"I see you got a lot of wood chopped," Ben said, appraising the large pile of wood.

"Yeah, hadn't realized how late it had gotten," Joe said, looking at the low sun.

Pa nodded, putting an arm around Joe's shoulders. Joe seemed to have calmed down quite a bit, for which Ben was very glad. He never enjoyed fights between his boys.

Then the sound of hoofbeats came to their ears, and Joe stiffened beside him.

' _Maybe not so relaxed yet.'_ Thought Ben to himself as Joe's breathing quickened.

"Hey Pa," Adam called as he and Hoss road onto the yard, leading the cow by a rope around her neck. The calf lay over Sport's withers.

Upon seeing the fuming Joe, Adam had to hide a smirk. "Hi, brother. Have a nice date?" He asked, purposely feeding the fire.

And it worked! With a growl, Joe stepped forward. "What have you been doing with Isabella?"

Ben crossed his arms over his chest, beginning to understand a little more of the situation.

"Hmm, are you sure you want to know, little brother?" Adam teased, tying Sport to a hitching rail and pulling the limp calf down.

Joe would have punched him there and then if it weren't for Adam raising his hand and pointing to the calf in his arms.

Joe followed Adam impatiently as the older Cartwright son deposited the young calf in the barn.

Then Adam turned around. He started saying "Take your best shot at me." but then he thought better of it and said instead, "Look, brother," Here he paused and, putting his arm around Joe's shoulder and leaning in to talk to him in a conspiring tone, slowly started walking towards the house. "I happen to have an... engagement tonight, and it really would be embarrassing if I showed up with a black eye, don't you agree? For those reasons, I'd like to postpone our conversation to bright and early, tomorrow morning. Are we agreed?" They had now reached the house, and Adam let go of Joe and stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind him.

Chuckling to himself, he ran up the stairs to get ready for his date.

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Poor Joe; I can picture the steam rising from his head! These chapters are short, but the next one will hopefully be done soon. Thanks for reading!

 **TBC**


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